FIRST TIME IN VANIYAMBADI, A MOSQUE HAS OPENED ITS
DOORS TO PEOPLE FROM ALL COMMUNITIES
Ehsan Ahmed K, Vaniyambadi (Tamil Nadu)
Students
Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), a student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has
organised "Visit My Mosque" Programme at Masjid-e-Khaderpet,
Vaniyambadi (Tamil Nadu) on 1st March 2020. It was a step towards strengthening
inter-faith relations and building peace and harmony among the people of
different faith.
More
than 400 brothers and sisters from other communities have visited the mosque through
this programme from 10 AM till Maghrib Prayers which comprised of people from
all walks of life such as Students, Professionals, Politicians, Businessmen
etc.,
25+
volunteers were designated with different responsibilities such as welcoming
the guests, registering their personal details, taking them to the different
portions of the mosque and explaining them the rituals and concepts of Islam
and finally providing snacks to them.
Volunteers
who were given the task of explaining to the visitors have played an exemplary job
by accomplishing it in a systematic and a well fashioned way.
The
below is the order in which the visitors were explained about Mosque and Islam.
The explanation started with the water tank (haus) where the guests were told
about the way in which the Wudhu (ablution) is performed and the importance of
cleanliness in Islam. Few of the guests have shown interest in learning and performing
the Wudhu.
Followed
by this, the visitors were taken to the place from where the Adhan (call for
prayer) is delivered, the words and the meaning of Adhan were also explained.
Following
which they were explained about the timings and names of daily five time
prayers and why the timings vary in hours.
Then
they were taken to the main hall of the mosque where they were explained about Imam,
Saf Bandi, Prayer in Congregation, Mihrab, Minbar, Quran, Jumma Sermon,
Khutba-e-Nikah and in fact all the concepts of Islam.
The
visitors were also taken to the Khabrastan (Graveyard) which is situated
adjacent to the Mosque and explained about the funeral prayers and Aaqirah (Life
after death).
Visitors
also got a chance to get to know about the social activities that take place in
mosque through different committees such as Masjid Sevai Kuzhu (Mosque Service
Committee) etc.,
Placards
were also displayed in some of the places in the mosque which helped the
visitors in understanding the concepts with much more clarity.
Visitors
have given feedback both in the form of writing and video recording.
Ammu
who is a lawyer by profession told in her interview that God has gifted her by
giving an opportunity to enter into a mosque. She has further told that if
everyone concentrates more towards the aakhirah (life after death), definitely
peace will prevail throughout the world.
Kulasekaran,
a Tamil writer commented that through this programme he acquired the in-depth
knowledge of Islam and the most attracted feature of Islam that he liked was
the prayer in congregation which he believes carries a spiritual power.
A
student from the local college Rakesh was very happy as his dream of performing
namaz (prayer) has become a reality through this programme. He said that one message
that he would consider as a takeaway from this programme is that the life is
very short and everyone’s final destination is just a 6 feet grave hence
everyone should spread only love and peace in this world.
One
among the guests Vinodh expressed that he liked the way Muslims stand in a row shoulder
to shoulder during prayers without any difference of poor and rich. On
commenting about the Graveyard, he mentioned that he was having a different
assumption of Muslims’ graves such as every person or every family will have their
graves reserved and each grave will have its own design etc., but he was amazed
to see the simplicity and the uniformity of graves.
Akash
mentioned that he felt very happy after spending some time in mosque because
from a very long time it was his wish to visit a mosque and learn about Muslims
and Islam.
Rosary
a schoolteacher attended this programme with some of her students, she told
that this programme has helped her in eliminating some of the misconceptions
that she had about Islam.
Guests
have really appreciated the organizers for giving them an opportunity to visit
the mosque and learn about Islam. They were also very much impressed by the way
they were welcomed and treated. Most of them have given positive comments about
the cleanliness inside the mosque.
Thanks
to the almighty for making this programme a great success. The members of SIO,
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Masjid-e-Khaderpet deserve an applaud for organising
such an event that propagates love and peace among different communities.
This report was
published in Islamic Voice’s issue of April 2020.
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